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Irish Language Act- a better stance

An Irish Language Act for Northern Ireland is a big issue that the Nationalist and Unionist parties in Northern Ireland disagree on.

Unionists fear that by agreeing to an Irish Language Act the result will be an increase in Irish being spoken in the public sector and in the courts and that that will therby dilute British culture.

I have a suggestion. Why don't the Irish language umbrealla group Pobal and the Nationalist parties and the Alliance Party drop the requirement that Irish should be allowed in the courts and instead give local councils the power to name new residential developments in Irish?

In practice new developments would be named in Irish in nationalist areas and perhaps sometimes in mixed areas. Unionists would not lose anything as they would be able to veto the use of Irish names in their areas and I expect that nationalist politicans would be sensible enough not to try to compel them to use Irish names.

A large number of residential developments are named in Irish today in most of the Republic. They aren't very popular in Dublin but they are in most of the Republic.

Agreeing to this idea would result in the growth of a distinctly Irish physcial environment within nationalist areas in the North but would ensure that one symbolic issue would be off the table.

Re: Irish Language Act- a better stance

What would be the point of that? It only confirms the status quo. That way you just keep the division that exists in society. Everybody should be able to engage with the Irish language without any political implications. The legislation should reflect that and I hope a compromise will be reached to that effect. It is the only way it will work. Uniquely, here NI we can learn from the mistakes made in the Republic.

"The thing that always annoyed me about traditional Irish historiography was the paradox of its Anglocentrism. People are now prepared, I think, to confront the possibility that many Irish problems are, in a sense, indigenous to the Irish situation." Roy Foster (1989).

Re: Irish Language Act- a better stance

Originally Posted by Darren Mac an Phríora

I have a suggestion. Why don't the Irish language umbrealla group Pobal and the Nationalist parties and the Alliance Party drop the requirement that Irish should be allowed in the courts and instead give local councils the power to name new residential developments in Irish?

Because that would dilute the Act to the extent that it would stand for nothing more than meaningless tokenism. One bilingual development in ten does not equate to parity of esteem. Further, if the supporters of Irish-language rights up North were to settle for this for the time being and continue the push for substantive rights in a year or two, they would be fobbed off with "Sure, we gave you the housing estates". It would be a cop-out and nothing short of a disgrace if they sacrificed a genuine hope for language progress in place of pointless aestheticism. There's more to Irish than housing estates, Darren.

Re: Irish Language Act- a better stance

I asked a unionist friend of mine why they were opposed to a Irish language act and his response was "because it will lead to a united Ireland" and I asked him how the hell could a language do that his response was "its happened before in other countries".. completely uninformed ignorant pish and childish attitude they have.

Re: Irish Language Act- a better stance

While I obviously disagree, I can understand why Unionists would fear what we would view as a good language act leading to a UI. It would emphasize the Irish roots (as opposed to British) of Northern Ireland.

In fact, I would hope that it would help lead to a UI as NI became less hesitant about embracing Gaelic heritage.

Re: Irish Language Act- a better stance

An Irish Language Act is not popular among Unionists because SF and other Republicans will use it to build a State within a State thus undermining the British ethos.
For example they will insist on social housing only being available to Irish speakers and using tax payers money to create a gaeltacht within our cities thus reinforcing apartheid.
They will also insist on a public transport system where the language is used.
Society is already divided by sport, religion, culture, education and now language.
Huge amounts will be spent to provide translation services for information already understood.
Thousands of Irish speakers ,almost entirely from the Catholic community will find employment in the public service drawing financial resources from other areas.
This will give them an economic advantage which has always been at the heart of SF policy. The language is used as another weapon of war against the Brits.
I am perfectly happy to support the language being encouraged in schools as it is widely used .
An Act of some sort will be passed and this will then present problems for those who wish to use Ulster/Scots.
Another useless layer of bureaucracy.
One hundred years ago it was fear of Rome rule now it is Gaelic rule